I was in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry last week. Beside the great Farm Tech exhibit there is is this wonderful thing in one of the halls called the Jollyball. The Chicago Reader describes it best as "a gigantic, self-starting pinball machine dedicated to promoting Swiss travel." How great is that?
"After the ritual ka-chunk, a silver ball emerges from a hotel and starts to roll energetically about the tour-bus-sized contraption, doing things a silver ball might do if it were a tourist in Switzerland; riding ski lifts, passing an outsize fondue bowl, being magnetically integrated into a loudly ticking clock. When the hustle and bustle gets to be too much, it slips into a bar, sets off some whistles, and eventually pops out again, wobbling noticeably."
All very exciting. I've got some more pictures on Flickr and I've borrowed a video to show you the glorious machine in action.
this is the single most brilliant thing ive ever seen. it's making me want to go back to chicago. more worryingly, i might even consider going to switzerland as a result of seeing it.
it had better be like that in real life though.
Posted by: Lebowski | Mar 04, 2008 at 23:27
Is this a type of contraption which you call 'steampunk' ?
Can it be connected to the internet ?
Posted by: Tom | Mar 05, 2008 at 10:15
More 'automaton' I reckon Tom, definitely not steampunk. It's a lovely thing to watch.
Posted by: Steve O | Mar 05, 2008 at 10:53
What's steampunk then ?
Posted by: Tom | Mar 05, 2008 at 12:05
Goddamn I want that in my bedroom.
Posted by: Angus | Mar 05, 2008 at 14:16
Tom - Steampunk (to me anyway) needs to have a Victoriana styling. It should use steam or clockwork tech to operate and usually have a 'made in the shed' look. Maybe it could scrape through based on the mechanics, but the styling is more modern here.
Posted by: Steve O | Mar 05, 2008 at 22:24
Angus, you want steampunk in your bedroom?
Posted by: Ben | Mar 06, 2008 at 00:23
Speaking of Steampunk. This is something I stumbled across incidentally today thought it was cool.
http://steampunkworkshop.com/daveveloz.shtml
Posted by: Richard | Mar 06, 2008 at 18:17
After I saw this exhibit it actually got me thinking about taking a ski vacation to Switzerland. I'm actually going to book a package soon. Funny it actually worked on me. It is a really cool piece!
Posted by: Ski Bum | Apr 19, 2008 at 22:10